Sunnyvale (CA) - AMD released the full specification of its virtualization technology "Pacifica" at the LinuxWorld Summit. Pacifica promises to bring hardware and software-based virtualization capabilities to AMD64 servers, workstations, desktops and mobile computers.

"The potential benefits of virtualization for businesses of all sizes and consumers alike are significant," said Marty Seyer, corporate vice president and general manager, for AMD's Microprocessor Solutions Sector in a prepared statement. In a general sense, virtualization will enable users to run multiple operating systems and applications in independent partitions of a system.

Pacifica consists of a software part as well as added functionality in chip hardware and the memory controller. AMD said these features "will help reduce complexity and increase security of new virtualization solutions." Compared to software-only solutions the new approach also promises improvements in performance.

AMD plans to make Pacifica available in its processors in the first half of 2006.

Intel will introduce its proprietary "Virtualization Technology", formerly code-named "Vanderpool", for Itanium processors later this year. Mobile platforms and Xeon chips will receive the technology in 2006.

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Source : Tom's Hardware US